Motorcyclist in hospital after crash

Last updated 11:30 21/02/2014

Relevant offers

Police are investigating whether alcohol was a factor in a serious road crash that left a motorcyclist in Waikato Hospital's high dependency unit.

Emergency services were called to the scene of the incident near the Hauraki Plains intersection of Bowler and Tautiti roads about 11:45pm on Wednesday, district road policing manager, Inspector Freda Grace, said.

Initial indications suggest the 48-year-old man failed to negotiate a bend and crashed through a barbed wire fence, she said.

"We are currently working to establish, what if any part, alcohol played in the incident as the injured rider told people at the scene he had been drinking before the crash.''

He is now in serious but stable condition.

Mrs Grace said while it was yet to be confirmed, it would be disappointing if alcohol had been a contributing factor in the crash as it would make the crash all the more avoidable.

"Road safety is no accident,'' she said. ''It is achieved by people making the decision that they won't drink or drive - or in this case ride - that they won't speed and that they will behave responsibly on our roads.''

Last year the region's road toll was halved to 22 from the preceding year. But so far this year there have been three deaths from three crashes compared to two deaths in two crashes over the same period last year.

Mrs Grace said if people began to see other motorists as people rather than just other objects on the road the Waikato stood a good chance at halving the road toll again.